Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jun 5;16(1):176.
doi: 10.1186/s12917-020-02372-w.

Association among biofilm formation, virulence gene expression, and antibiotic resistance in Proteus mirabilis isolates from diarrhetic animals in Northeast China

Yadong Sun  1   2 , Shanshan Wen  1 , Lili Zhao  3 , Qiqi Xia  1 , Yue Pan  1 , Hanghang Liu  1 , Chengwei Wei  1 , Hongyan Chen  3 , Junwei Ge  1   4 , Hongbin Wang  5
Affiliations

Association among biofilm formation, virulence gene expression, and antibiotic resistance in Proteus mirabilis isolates from diarrhetic animals in Northeast China

Yadong Sun et al. BMC Vet Res. .

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the association among biofilm formation, virulence gene expression, and antibiotic resistance in P. mirabilis isolates collected from diarrhetic animals (n = 176) in northeast China between September 2014 and October 2016.

Results: Approximately 92.05% of the isolates were biofilm producers, whereas 7.95% of the isolates were non-producers. The prevalence of virulence genes in the biofilm producer group was significantly higher than that in the non-producer group. Biofilm production was significantly associated with the expression of ureC, zapA, rsmA, hmpA, mrpA, atfA, and pmfA (P < 0.05). The results of drug susceptibility tests revealed that approximately 76.7% of the isolates were multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR). Biofilm production was significantly associated with resistance to doxycycline, tetracycline, sulfamethoxazole, kanamycin, and cephalothin (P < 0.05). Although the pathogenicity of the biofilm producers was stronger than that of the non-producers, the biofilm-forming ability of the isolates was not significantly associated with morbidity and mortality in mice (P > 0.05).

Conclusion: Our findings suggested that a high level of multidrug resistance in P. mirabilis isolates obtained from diarrhetic animals in northeast China. The results of this study indicated that the positive rates of the genes expressed by biofilm-producing P. mirabilis isolates were significantly higher than those expressed by non-producing isolates.

Keywords: Animal; Antibiotic resistance; Biofilm; Diarrhea; Pathogenicity; Proteus mirabilis; Virulence gene.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no financial or personal relationships with other individuals or organizations that could have inappropriately influenced or biased the contents of this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Antibiotic resistance phenotypes of P. mirabilis isolates examined in this study. a Resistance rates of all isolates to 19 antibiotics. b Approximately 76.7% of the isolates exhibited multidrug or extensive drug resistance
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chen CY, Chen YH, Lu PL, Lin WR, Chen TC, Lin CY. Proteus mirabilis urinary tract infection and bacteremia: risk factors, clinical presentation, and outcomes. J Microbiol Immunol Infect. 2012;45:228–236. - PubMed
    1. Liu MC, Lin SB, Chien HF, Wang WB, Yuan YH, Hsueh PR, et al. 10′(Z), 13′(E)-heptadecadienylhydroquinone inhibits swarming and virulence factors and increases polymyxin B susceptibility in Proteus mirabilis. PLoS One. 2012;7:e45563. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mobley HL, Belas R. Swarming and pathogenicity of Proteus mirabilis in the urinary tract. Trends Microbiol. 1995;3:280–284. - PubMed
    1. Wang Y, Zhang S, Yu J, Zhang H, Yuan Z, Sun Y, et al. An outbreak of Proteus mirabilis food poisoning associated with eating stewed pork balls in brown sauce, Beijing. Food Control. 2010;21:302–305.
    1. Wang JT, Chen PC, Chang SC, Shiau YR, Wang HY, Lai JF, et al. Antimicrobial susceptibilities of Proteus mirabilis: a longitudinal nationwide study from the Taiwan surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (TSAR) program. BMC Infect Dis. 2014;14:486. - PMC - PubMed

Substances

LinkOut - more resources